King: 25th anniversary of SH94 Avalanche Programme

I am delighted to be here today in the
heart of one of UNESCO’s World Heritage Areas ---
Fiordland National Park --- for the 25th Anniversary of the
Milford Road Avalanche Programme.

It is impossible to fly
into this region without being amazed at the breath-taking
scenery. No wonder this is one of New Zealand’s most
popular destinations, and I am so pleased to have been
invited to today’s celebration. Thank you very much to
Dean Whaanga for his blessing earlier.

Before I talk about
today’s celebration, I want to Transit acting chair Bryan
Jackson, Downer EDI chief operating officer Cos Bruyn,
Transit Board members Mike Williams and Graeme Hall and
last, but certainly not least, avalanche programme manager
Wayne Carran and his wife Ann and all the members of
Avalanche Programme team, past and present.

Each year, the
Milford Road takes many of the more than one million people
who visit Fiordland from Te Anau to that jewel in New
Zealand’s crown -– Milford Sound.

Described by the
writer Rudyard Kipling as the 'eighth wonder of the world',
Milford Sound was also voted the most attractive tourist
destination in the world in a recent survey by global
internet travel advisory service Trip Advisor.

Milford
Road not only provides access to some of the country’s
most pristine tourist attractions, it is also the backbone
of a local tourism industry which generates $230 million for
the New Zealand economy every year.

The tourism sector
accounts for 10 to12 percent of the labour force in
Southland compared to the national average of 9.9 percent of
the total workforce. So tourism is clearly crucial from an
economic point of view to this region, and access to its
major attraction, the Fiordland National Park, is essential.
The history of that access is a tale of wonder in itself.

Work started on Milford Road during the 1930s Depression.
It was one of the many work schemes created by the then
Liberal Government, led by George Forbes. Milford Sound,
however, was inaccessible by road until 1953 when the Homer
Tunnel was completed.

At six metres wide, the Homer
Tunnel is very narrow, yet it needs to be open for two-way
traffic during avalanche season – a potentially daunting
experience for visitors used to driving on wider lanes,
especially when there is an oncoming bus!

Until 1962,
Milford Road was closed during the height of the winter and
avalanche season, but by the late 1970s, local tourist and
fishing interests had successfully lobbied for it to remain
open all year round.

We can imagine how harsh life must
have been for the workers who built this road and the
tunnel, climbing high through the Southern Alps.

Avalanches were very much a part of their working days.
Men were killed and bridge structures, road works and tunnel
portals were often destroyed. At the time there was only
very basic knowledge of avalanches and the warning
signs.

The high rainfall, which I’m told exceeds 7000mm
per year, meant avalanche dangers existed for all motorists
travelling on the road and for people working on the road
throughout the year.

It took the death of well-respected
Ministry of Works road maintenance supervisor Robert Andrew
in 1983 to spur the fledgling Milford Road Avalanche Control
Programme into full development.

His fellow worker and
friend Wayne Carran was there the day Robert was killed by
an avalanche. Wayne’s determination that this should never
happen again was picked up by Transit’s predecessor, the
Ministry of Works, and the Milford team. Wayne Carran, here
today, is now the Avalanche Programme Manager.

Wayne, I
congratulate you and your wife Ann on receiving Queen’s
Service Medals in the Queen’s Birthday Honours last week.
It is a fitting tribute to the work you have done in making
the programme the world-leader it is today.

The programme
monitors, assesses and controls avalanche hazards on the
road, and is recognised by avalanche experts around the
world as one of the best programmes in a challenging part of
the world.

Transit monitors more than 85 avalanche slopes
along a 17-kilometre section of road capable of producing
avalanches. Of these, 50 have the potential to reach the
road when weather conditions are poor.

Transit has four
automated high-level snow and weather monitoring stations
and two road level automated weather stations. These provide
round- the-clock data on wind, temperature, rain and status
of the snow pack.

The information, collected from the
weather stations along with MetService and field
observations, is used to evaluate the risks of avalanches
and make hazard predictions.

It should be mentioned that
MetService’s former chief meteorologist, the late Augie
Auer, couldn’t accept that nothing could be done to
improve the weather forecasts in Milford Road area. Wayne
Carran will recall his coming down to get a better
understanding of the environment, and acknowledges it is
thanks to Augie that Transit today gets reliable weather
forecasts for this vital stretch of road.

As this area is
a uniquely extreme environment, many innovations have been
developed to improve the effectiveness of the programme.
These innovations place New Zealand at the forefront of
avalanche control technology and practice.

The crucial
part of this programme, besides predicting avalanches, is
controlling the avalanche hazards, by either not allowing
traffic to stop inside an avalanche area, or closing the
road and using controlled explosives to release an avalanche
before it naturally occurs.

Last year, during winter,
Transit opened a kiosk on Milford Road eight kilometres
north of Te Anau where staff provided road users with
information on safe winter driving, the state of the road
and checked they had the correct tyre chains and knew how to
fit them. The kiosk proved its worth and is open again this
winter. It's all part of ensuring the safety of motorists on
this road.”

I also understand that just this month
Transit has entered into a new contract with Downer EDi
Works that secures Downer’s status as the sole provider of
the avalanche control programme to ensure this major
risk-management process is sustainable into the future.

The new contract has a key focus on developing people
with the necessary skills to manage this programme – and
perhaps others worldwide. This team is already part of the
international avalanche control community and I’m certain
there will be more opportunities for team members to gain
experience off-season in other avalanche areas of the world,
and to share the skills they have developed as a result of
Milford Road’s unique conditions.

Lastly today, I
would like again to thank Wayne Carran and the people who
work on this programme to ensure the safety of motorists and
the economic viability of the region. Often, in the bleakest
of weather conditions, you are out there keeping this area
safe. You, and others working in the programme over the last
twenty-five years, have reduced highway closures and have
made a safe driving environment.

And, as I can also
attest, after a visit to the programme recently, the
avalanche team also make the best crayfish bread rolls in
the business. Milford Sound may be this region’s best
known attraction, but Wayne and Ann’s crayfish rolls are
the region’s best-kept secret.

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